Archery, both as a hunting technique and as a formal competitive sport, is an activity which has maintained a wide spread popularity almost from the beginning of recorded history. The intense modern popularity of archery would seem surprising in view of the technical innovations in firearms which have rendered archery somewhat obsolete. Several factors cause large numbers of hunters and competitors to prefer a bow and arrow to a firearm. Many sportsmen feel that the silence and high degree of human involvement found in archery make it a more "sporting" technique. Archery is also considered safer both for the bowman and for others in the area. Perhaps more important, however, is the introduction of modern materials and techniques to the manufacture of both bows and arrows. This factor both reduces the cost of the equipment and the effort necessary to maintain it. The quality of modern equipment has also vastly increased the accuracy which an archer can achieve. The elimination of many of the equipment shortcomings (which were the major factor in limiting the accuracy of an archer) has resulted in a truly remarkable increase in the accuracy that a normal archer can expect. This elimination has also, however, increased the importance of other factors which effect accuracy. One of the most important of these other factors is the smoothness and consistency by which the archer releases the drawn bow string. The quality of this bow string release technique is critical, because any extraneous vibrations or torque applied to the arrow precisely at the location and moment that the force of the string is applied to the arrow, is amplified and becomes a substantial source of inaccuracy. This peculiarity is demonstrated geographically by the substantial increase in accuracy resulting from a change in fingering from the so-called "Hunter" grip in which the forefinger grips the string above and the middle and third fingers grip the string below the arrow, to the "String Walker" grip in which the forefinger is moved below the arrow. Similar substantial increases in average accuracy have been achieved by means of mechanical bow string releases. These mechanical releases originally involved a handle with a rigid hook which engaged the bow string. By twisting the handle, the hook would release the string without the substantial frictional effects which normally occur between the archer's finger and the string and arrow and which contributed, not only considerable extraneous vibration to the arrow, but also considerable abrasion to the archer's fingers. The drawback of this sort of mechanical release was not only that the passage of the string over the point of the hook still introduced extraneous vibrations that the finger grip introduced, but the substantial movement of the handle required to effect the release also interfered with the aiming of the arrow and with maintaining the bow and release steady while shooting. Various devices aimed at overcoming these problems have involved cumbersome and complicated mechanical structures which were expensive and were generally not effective. These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art devices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.
It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the present invention to provide a bow string release which allows smooth and reproducible release of a bow string to shoot an arrow.
Another object of this invention is the provision of a bow string release which minimizes the introduction of extraneous vibrations into the release of an arrow.
A further object of the present invention is the provision of a bow string release which is simple to operate.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide a bow string release which can be inexpensively manufactured in a durable and attractive form.
A still further object of the invention of a bow string release which minimizes destructive abrasion of the bow string.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a bow string release in which the movement required by the operator to effect the release is an absolute minimum.
With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.